Hinge structure



G. R. HEIDLER HINGE STRUCTURE Aug. 7, 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Dec. 18, 1959 INVENTOR.

GLEN R. HEIDLER A, AGENT g 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Aug. 7, 1962 e. R. HEIDLER HINGE STRUCTURE Filed Dec. 18, 1959 VENTOR.

HEIDLER AGENT United dtates The invention hereinafter described and claimed has to do with hinge structures. More specifically, however, it relates to hinge structures particularly adapted for use as a combined hinge and electrical conductor in miniaturized electrical network assemblies such as described and claimed in the co-pending application of Edgar O. Sprude entitled, Modularized Electrical Network Assembly, Serial No. 860,602, filed December 18, 1959, and assigned to the assignee of the present invention.

The Sprude invention comprises an improved miniaturized, modular electrical network assembly consisting of a plurality of unique triangularly shaped miniature circuit sub-assemblies nested around a heat exchanger and enclosed in a housing formed by individual walls providing means for interconnecting the sub-assemblies into the network assembly. The housing is of polygonal shape-square in the preferred embodimentand comprises a plurality of housing walls which form the back planes for the conductors interconnecting the miniature sub-assemblies into an electrical network. The preferred form involves hinging the housing walls, and intercon necting conductors on one wall to those on another wall.

The important object of the present invention is to provide a novel hinge construction suitable for a variety of uses, but particularly adapted for use where elements, such as the wall members of the Sprude application, are to be interconnected for relative movement.

Another important and more specific object of the invention is to provide such a hinge construction which, in addition to providing means for hingedly interconnecting walls or panel members, also provides the means for conductively interconnecting electrical conductors on both members.

Still more specifically, it is an object of the invention to provide a unique hinge structure characterized by its simplicity, its low cost, its ease of manufacture, and its ability to serve its hinging function without unnecessary strain on the hinge element and without severing its interconnection of such electrical conductors.

In accordance with the above objects and first briefly described, the present invention comprises in its basic and preferred form a flexible hinge leaf member bonded at its ends to adjacent members, the edges of which are in abutting relation and so formed as to maintain the free intermediate portion of the flexible leaf substantially without slack or tension in either of its terminal positions or in any of the positions intermediate of the terminal positions during folding of the walls relative to each other. When used in the apparatus of the above-identified Sprude application, a plurality of thin and narrow electrically conductive hinge elements in accordance with the present invention, are arranged along abutting edges of adjacent housing walls, thereby providing a row of hinges throughout the length of the walls, and at the same time providing a plurality of electrical conductors usable for interconnecting printed or other types of wiring on the adjacent walls.

A more complete understanding of the invention may be had from the following detailed description and by reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a modular electrical net work assembly in accordance with the above-identified Sprude application and in which the hinge structure of the present invention is particularly adapted for interconnecting the housing wall members both physically and electrically;

'atent 3,048,806 Patented Aug. 7, 1962 FIG. 2 is a fragmentary perspective view of a corner of the modular assembly of FIG. 1 showing the hinge construction of the present invention in the folded or closed condition of the housing wall members;

FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 2 but showing the wall members in their unfolded or open condition;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary perspective view of an edge portion of one of the wall members of the module shown in FIG. 1, illustrating elements of its construction in an exploding condition;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a hinge leaf in accordance with the preferred form of the invention and in the condition it will assume when the housing wall members are folded as shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the same hinge leaf as shown in FIG. 5, but in the condition it will assume when the housing wall members are unfolded as shown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 7 is a transverse sectional view through a portion of the module assembly of FIG. 1 with parts broken away, more clearly showing portions of three housing wall members in their folded condition;

FIG. 8 is a fragmentary view showing the condition of the hinge leaf and its associated wall structure in a position intermediate its folded and unfolded conditions;

FIG. 9 is a view similar to FIG. 8 but showing the elements in the condition when the housing walls are completely unfolded; and

FIG. 10 is a fragmentary sectional view taken along the line 10-10 of FIG. 9.

While of broader application, the preferred form of the invention is herein illustrated as an important adjunct of a modular electrical network or system assembly, as described in the above-mentioned Sprude application. The assembly 14, as illustrated in FIG. 1, includes a plurality of hermetically sealed sub-assemblies 15 (FIGS. 3 and 7), each comprising a separate circuit constructed essentially as a flat wafer or chip of substantially triangular shape with connector leads or pins 16 extending from their bottom or base edge 17. These chips are plugged into apertures 18 provided in the walls 19 of the assembly, with their leads in electrically conductive relationship with electrical conductors 20 on the outer surface 1% of the wall members. While these conductors may be of any suitable type, it is preferred, as shown in FIG. 2, that they be of the printed circuit type. As illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 3, the chips are stacked along the housing walls, and when completely assembled comprises an assembly of square cross-section which may be of any desired length, thus to form the electrical system in accordance with the Sprude invention.

It is necessary in the assembly to interconnect the housing walls in a manner whereby they may be folded to the condition shown in FIG. 1 or unfolded, as fragmentarily illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 9, either to expose the inner surfaces 19a of the walls for assembling the chips in their stacked relation on the walls, or to make the chips of an assembly available for servicing or replacing should this become necessary. At the same time it is also necessary to maintain the conductive interconnection of the circuit conductors 20 on adjacent wall members so that the interconnection of the electrical network is not disrupted. The unique hinge structure of the present invention provides all of these features.

With reference to FIGS. 4 and 7, it is seen that each housing wall panel 19 is provided along its opposite edges with upstanding end walls 32. Each of the end walls is defined by an inner face 34 normal to the plane of the housing wall panel and two outer faces 35 and 36 extending outwardly at equal angles of 45 relative to the plane of the face 34 and toward each other to meet and form a angle at the apex 37. Face 36 includes a plurality of short projecting portions 40' equally spaced from each other by a portion 36a of the Wall 36. Each of the projections is defined by a bottom face 41, opposite and parallel side faces 42 and 43, and an end face defined by a curved portion 45 and a flat portion 46. The curved portion 45 is generated about a radius at the point of intersection of face 41 of projection 40 with wall 36, as indicated by the numeral 47, and for the reason explained hereinafter. The bottom face 41 of projection 40 in this embodiment of the invention is in a plane parallel to the plane of the inner and outer faces 1% and 1912 respectively of wall panel 19 and spaced from face 1% by a short portion 36b of face 36. In effect the configuration of face 36 with the projections 40 may be described as castellated.

As seen in FIG. 7, the outer faces 1% of Wall panels 19 have the printed electrical conductors formed thereon. Now considering only the left half of FIG. 7, with two of the wall panels-let us designate them as 19x and 19y for convenience-abutting each other along faces of end walls 32, it is seen that a hinge leaf 51 is secured to both panels by bonding one end 52 to a printed circuit pad 53 on the outer surface of panel 1%, and its opposite end 54 to another printed circuit pad 55 on the adjacent panel 19y, with the intermediate portion 56 of the hinge leaf hugging the co-planar faces 36 extending angularly across the abutting edges of both walls. Portions 56a and 56b at opposite ends of the intermediate portion :76 of the hinge leaf, that is, the portions between the radius points 47 and the leaf end portions 52 and 54, are bonded to the faces 36 to secure the hinge leaf to the panels without tension on the bonded connection between the ends of the leaf and the printed circuit pads. Thus it is seen that with the wall panels folded as shown in FIG. 7, the

hinge leaf secures the two adjacent wall panels 19x and 7 By in hinged relationship in a manner permitting them to be unfolded relative to each other, to the position shown in FIG. 9.

It will be understood, however, that under these conditions the intermediate free portion 56 of the hinge leaf would be unsupported and as the hinges in this embodiment of the invention are of thin flexible material, they may be adversely affected to the extent that they break. To prevent this, the hinge reinforcing strips 60 are provided. The strips are formed on one edge 61, as seen in FIG. 4, with castellations or projections 62 complementary to the castellations or projections 44) on face 36 of end walls 32 so that the castellations on strip 6t) may be inserted between those on face 36 with a snug fit. Each of the projections on strip 6t) are separated from each other by a porton 63 of the top wall of the strip, and each includes a curved upper face 65 extending partially across the top surface thereof, with one end terminating tangent to an angular face 66 extending throughout the length of the strip 69. The curve of the surface 65' is generated about a radius centered on a point 67 (FIG. 9) located in the plane of the face 63 of strip 60 where a line drawn normal to face 36 from either of points 47 crosses it. Thus when joined with the curved face 65 of a projection on the adjacent panel both form an are equal to A1 of a circle.

When the strips 60 are assembled with the wall panels 19, the projections on the strip are inserted between the projections on face 36 of the wall panel until the face 41 of projections meets the face 63 of the strip. The angular face 66 of the strip will be brought into contact with the hinge portions 56:: and 561), depending upon which of the panels is being assembled, and the outer face 68 of the strip is in a plane with the outer face 46 of the projections 40. The strips 69 are bonded in this position by a suitable bonding agent placed on all mating faces of the two elements and the hinge prior to assembly.

Now with reference to FIG. 9, it will be seen that when the two panels 19x and 19y are unfolded to their open condition, the curved surfaces 65 of the projections 62 on 4 strip 60 will back up the intermediate portion 56 of the hinge strips 51 to such an extent that substantially no slack is present in the leaf and the ends 46 of projections 40, and the outer faces 68 of the reinforcing strips 60 on adjacent Walls 19 will be held in abutting relationship thus preventing flexing of the hinge strip relative to the panels when the latter are in the fully unfolded condition.

An important feature of this construction is that the length of the free portion 56 of each hinge leaf, when the panels are folded, as shown in FIG. 7, is always equal to the distance between hinge points 47 on faces 36 of panels 19x and 19y. During all other conditions of the hinge operation portion 56 of each hinge leaf is equal to or a little less than the closest unobstructed distance between hinge points 47 on panels 19x and 19y. This construction eliminates all danger of excessive tension in the hinge strips and does not permit undesirable fiexure of the strip relative to the panels. In this regard, attention is directed to FIG. 8 showing an intermediate condition of a hinge operation during movement of the panels to the open condition. As seen here, the first movement is downwardly about the curved portions 45 to the point of intersection between the curved portion and the straight end face 46. Further movement of the panel will be about that point as a center until the outer surfaces 63 of the strips 60 meet, as shown in FIG. 9. At all times during a hinging action-in either directionthe distance between the radius points 47 on the adjacent panels and over the projections 62 on the strip 60 will never be more than the free portion of the hinge strip between the radius points 47.

It will also be understood, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 7, that this hinge construction is duplicated at two other corners 7t and 71 of the module assembly 14 while the corner 72 is formed by bringing the unhinged free ends 73 and 74 in abutting relationship and securing them together with suitable means, such as the releasable latches 75 shown at both ends.

Thus it will be understood that the invention provides a hinge structure which is effective to hold adjacent members closely together for hinging movement relative to each other without permitting undesirable flexing or tensioning of the hinge element, and at the same time may serve to provide electrically conductive interconnection of electrical conductors on the adjacent members.

What is claimed is:

1. A hinge structure comprising: a pair of members positioned adjacent each other and having edge portions with abutting edge faces; means securing said edge portions together in a manner permitting said members to be moved about said abutting edge faces and relative to each other from one position to another; said securing means comprising a flexible hinge leaf having opposite end portions and opposite faces, one end portion of said hinge leaf being fixed to one of said members at a point spaced away from said abutting edge faces of said members, and an opposite end portion fixed to the other of said members at a point also spaced away from said abutting edge faces of said members, and with a free intermediate portion of said hinge leaf extending between the said end portions; said abutting edge faces of said members being so formed as to cooperate during folding of said members to maintain the free distance between said end portions of said hinge leaf substantially equal to the free portion of said hinge leaf; first means on the edge portions of each of said members and opposing one of the faces of said hinge leaf cooperating to back-up said hinge leaf when said members are in one of said positions; and second means opposing the other face of said hinge leaf and cooperating to back-up said hinge leaf when said members are in the other of said positions.

2. A hinge structure according to claim 1 wherein said first means on the edge portions of said members coopcrating to back up the hinge leaf when said members are in said one position comprises, angular edge face portions of said members which cooperate to form a planar face extending across both edge portions angularly with respect to the relative position of said members.

3. A construction according to claim 1 wherein said second means on the edge portions of said members cooperating to back up the hinge leaf when the members are in the other of said positions comprises reinforcing strips secured to said edge portions and having curved faces cooperating to form an are having a circumferential dimension substantially equal to the length of free unbonded portions of said hinge leaf between the secured end portions.

4. A hinge structure according to claim 1 wherein: said first means on the edge portions of said members cooperating to back-up the hinge leaf when said members are in said one position comprises, angular edge face portions of said members which cooperate to form a planar face extending across both edge portions angularly with respect to the relative positons of said members; and said second means on the edge portions of said members coopcrating to back-up the hinge leaf when the members are in the other of said positions comprises reinforcing strips secured to said edge portions and having curved faces cooperating to form an are having a circumferential dimension substantially equal to the length of the free portion of said hinge leaf between the secured end portions,

5. A hinge construction according to claim 1 wherein the said edge portions of said members are elongated and said edge faces are abutting throughout the length of said edge portions, and wherein a plurality of said hinge leaves are spaced along said edge portions each similarly associated with said members.

6. A construction according to claim 5 wherein each of said members is provided with electrical conductors independent of those on the other member, and further wherein said hinge leaves are electrically conductive and the opposite ends of said hinge leaves are fixed to conductors on the res ective members thus to electrically interconnect conductors on the members.

7. A construction according to claim 1 wherein each of said members is provided with electrical conductors independent of those on the other member, and further wherein said hinge leaf is electrically conductive and the opposite ends of said hinge leaf are fixed to the conductors on the members thus to electrically interconnect said conductors.

8. A hinge structure comprising: a pair of planar panels positioned adjacent each other and having abutting edges; a hinge leaf securing said panels together for movement about its abutting edges relative to each other from positions wherein the planes of said panels are in a substantially common plane, to positions wherein the planes of the panels are angularly related to each other; one end of said hinge leaf being bonded adjacent to the abutting edge of one of said panels; and the opposite end of said hinge leaf being bonded adjacent to the abutting edge of the other panel with a free intermediate portion of said hinge leaf lying between said bonded ends; said abutting edges of said panels having first and second portions cooperating to substantially surround said hinge leaf, and having outer faces in constant abutting relationship during movement of the panels from either of said positions to the other, and maintaining the shortest continuous free distance between the bonded connections of the hinge leaf to the panels always substantially equal to the length of the free intermediate portion of said hinge leaf, and wherein said free intermediate portion lies over and is backed up substantially throughout its length by said cooperating first edge portions of said panels when in one of its above-mentioned positions, and by said co-operating second edge portions when in the other of said positions.

9, A construction according to claim 8 and further including electrical conductors on each of said panels and wherein said hinge leaf is electrically conductive and the ends of said hinge leaf electrically interconnect said conductors.

10. A hinge structure comprising: a pair of planar panels positioned adjacent each other and having elongated abutting edges; a plurality of hinge leaves securing said panels together along their abutting edges for movement relative to each other from positions wherein the planes of said panels are in substantially the same common plane, to positions wherein the planes of the panels are normal to each other; one end of each of said hinge leaves being bonded to one of said panels adjacent to the abutting edges; the opposite end of each of said hinge leaves being bonded to the other panel adjacent to the abutting edges, leaving a free intermediate portion of said hinge leaves between said bonded ends; said abutting edges of said panels being formed with first and second portions surrounding each of said hinge leaves and being so formed as to be in constant abutting relationship during movement of the panels from either of said positions to the other, and so that the shortest continuous free distance between the bonded connections of each of the hinge leaves to the panels is always substantially equal to the length of the free intermediate portion of each of said hinge leaves, and is backed up substantially throughout its length by said cooperating first edge portions of said panels when in one of its above-mentioned positions, and by said co-operating second edge portions when in the other of said positions.

11. A construction according to claim 10 and further including electrical conductors on each of said panels, and wherein said hinge leaves are electrically conductive and electrically interconnect said conductors.

12. A hinge construction according to claim 11 wherein the formation of said edges to back-up said hinge leaves when the panels are in either of their positions comprises, angular edge faces on one side of each of said leaves which cooperate to form a planar face extending across both panel edges angularly with respect to said panels when in a folded condition with their planes normal to each other, and curved edge faces on the other side of said hinge leaves cooperating to form an are having a circumferential dimension equal to the length of the free intermediate portions of said hinge leaf thus to back-up the said free intermediate portion when said panels are in the said common plane.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 667,838 Collins Feb. 12, 1901 1,055,516 Carter Mar. 11, 1913 2,253,606 Boltz ...c. Aug. 26, 1941 9.740 097 Edelman et a1. Mar. 27. 1956 

